Jasper led the way into the basement, but he didn’t stop in the family room. He wanted privacy for whatever they said. Privacy where Freya wouldn’t accidentally overhear their conversation. So he led them into his dungeon and shut the room.
“This is quite the place for us to talk.” Asher shot him a bemused stare.
“Please, like you haven’t tied Emilia up in your private dungeon and fucked her,” Jasper chided him.
“I don’t talk about that in front of her brothers.” Asher shook his head.
Jasper crossed his arms. “What’s this all about? Not that I don’t enjoy seeing you. But Freya is right. It’s a long drive for a meeting.”
“We’re staging an intervention,” Finn admitted, crossing his arms in front of him. It was bad if they could get Finn off his damn farm.
“Josh talked. That fucker. I should sue the goddamn pants off him and file a malpractice suit against him,” he swore. The next time he saw Josh, he would give the man a piece of his mind.
“He’s family.” Gabe shrugged, like that was explanation enough and forgave his violation of their attorney-client privilege.
“And that makes his betrayal all right? He broke his word.” And he would chew him a new asshole at the first opportunity.
Dean leaned against the padded bench. “We’re here because we’re concerned.”
“You’re giving the woman fifty mil to marry you for a year. That’s a huge red flag,” Jase stated, looking at him like he’d lost his mind.
Maybe he had. But Freya and Maddie had breathed life back into his world. He felt a sense of purpose and direction he’d not had in years. Fifty million wasn’t enough. “I’m the one who offered her money to marry me. Not that it’s any of your business what I do with my money or my life. I don’t need any of your approval to get married.”
“But we can step in when you’re being a fucking idiot,” Colin argued with a furious scowl.
“Again, none of your business, cousin. If I want to marry a call girl, I can. If I want to give all my money away to charity, I can. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“There’s someone else who’d like to have a word,” Dean said, holding up his phone.
“Are you out of your bloody mind, brother?” Xavier’s voice blared through the phone.
“Oh, bollocks. Did you have to bring him into this too?” Jasper pinched the bridge of his nose. They’d really gone all out with the inquisition.
“Answer the question, Jasper.” Xavier snarled.
“Piss off.” Rage filled him to the point his hands shook with the need to tear a body limb from limb.
“I think if you tell us how you met her and why you’re marrying her, it might alleviate some of our concerns,” Gabe stated. Always the peacemaker, that one.
Jasper rolled his eyes and inhaled a deep, steadying breath. “Fine.” He then relayed the whole story. He left out a few details, but they didn’t need to know his fascination with his future bride.
“That’s it? You want to marry her to get Mum off your back?” Xavier scolded, as if he was still a child.
“Let me at least investigate her,” Asher interjected. “You mentioned her ex was after them. Get me a name and I can research it, see what comes up.”
“Jasper, if nothing else, let him do it,” Xavier begged through the phone receiver.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you, when you did the same damn thing when you married Emma. So don’t act all high and mighty with me, brother.”
“Emma was a club member already and was vetted. Freya isn’t. Don’t be an idiot. For all you know, she could be running a con,” Gabe said, attempting a compromise.
Jasper doubted she was running a con. But she was running from her ex. That much was obvious. Yet they had a point. If he could get Asher Ian’s information, then he would know who the guy was and could properly defend them.
“Fine, I’ll get you his name.” She hadn’t been forthcoming with the last name. But he had a tactic he could use to get her to speak. “But that’s it. You’re all going to back off. I’m marrying Freya Friday morning before Judge Cartright. If any of you fuckers try to stop me, we’ll have a big problem. And you will be the souls of discretion. If any of this conversation gets back to Freya in any way, shape, or form, and if you’re not welcoming, then you’re going to want me out of the country because I will come for you.”
“Holy shit! You like her,” Dean said, his mouth agape.
“What are you talking about?”
“Fuck. Why didn’t I see it before? Denial is the first stage,” Gabe murmured, rubbing his beard.
“The first stage of what?” He scowled at his cousins like they had lost their bleeding minds.
“Love, brother. They’re talking about falling in love with the woman who’s meant for you,” Xavier explained.
Jasper scoffed, “That’s preposterous. I can’t fall in love. Never have and am not likely to start now.”
“It only takes one woman to change all of that.” Asher studied him with a shit-eating grin.
“Have you slept with her already?” Colin asked.
“He’d be even more volatile and defensive if he had. But they’ve done stuff. I doubt he’s sealed the deal, though.” Dean commented.
“We’re not trying to gang up on you,” Gabe said.
Jasper snorted. “Bullshit, cousin. That’s exactly what you’re doing. And you’re all out of line. What happens between Freya and me is my business.”
“Then don’t use the family attorney if you want it kept out of family business,” Finn stated with a shrug, as if it were that simple.
“Noted. But I’m here to tell you that woman upstairs has been through hell, and you will be kind to her. And that kindness extends to her daughter, Maddie, or we will have a major problem, and I will make you live to regret. I don’t care if we’re family or not.”
“We’d never be mean to a child. What the hell do you take us for, brother?” Xavier asked, sounding offended.
“Nosy busybodies with too much time on their hands. Now, if we’re done here, I need to check on my girls. You gave her a fright coming here.”
“Why? Is she wanted by the police?” Colin asked derisively.
“No. She’s a woman who has been abused and had to protect her child.”
“And why didn’t her family help her?”
That was a question he’d been asking himself. Not that he would admit it to these bozos, regardless of how well-meaning they were. But it was a topic he intended to broach.
“Jesus, he doesn’t even know.” Colin rubbed a hand over his face in disbelief.
Jasper was over their attempt at an intervention. “The conversation is over. I’m not willing to share any more information. You invaded my home and made my fiancée nervous.”
“Sophia and I will be at your wedding on Friday. You need witnesses,” Gabe stated.
“Fine. But don’t think your attendance will stop the wedding.” He was more determined than ever to make her his, and not just because he wanted to give all his cousins the finger once the nuptials were in the books.